KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The owner of Metro Tow and his mother were charged Thursday with 18 felony charges in connection to a scheme of illegally towing cars across the Kansas City area.
Donald Adamson, owner of Metro Tow, and his mother, Lannette Adamson, each face four counts of stealing, four counts of forgery and one count of first-degree harassment following a multi-month investigation by the Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department.
“The Kansas City, Missouri, Police Department has been aware of numerous complaints related to Metro Tow and Transport over the past several years,” court documents filed stated.
LINK | Read the probable cause statement in the case
Prosecutors allege Metro Tow drivers used improperly filled-out forms as a basis to tow vehicles. The vehicles would then be towed to a tow lot with the owners battling to get their cars back, often by needing to make a cash payment to Metro Tow.
In one instance in February 2025, a 2008 Buick Lucerne was towed from a Crossroads Arts District apartment building. When the owner of the car called Metro Tow to get her car back, she was told her car was towed because it was in a fire lane. A police review of the apartment building showed no such fire lane existed, and the Buick was illegally towed. The owner had to go to Metro Tow’s lot at 1034 Agnes and pay $350 to get her car back.
The court documents disclose three other instances in which cars were illegally towed.
Court documents revealed that in early March, police detectives investigating the company put up a camera on a pole near Metro Tow’s lot. Less than two weeks later, police discovered the camera had been shot down.
“Five spent shell casings were recovered, and employees and/or the owner of Metro Tow are suspected of shooting the camera out,” court documents read.
Law enforcement served a search warrant on the tow lot on April 9, during which the pair was taken into custody. Police found two stolen vehicles on the lot, at least one vehicle that was improperly towed in connection to one of the stealing investigations and “numerous 4669 Forms prefilled out” in violation of state law.
Police located 20 other vehicles on the lot with “various discrepancies on being towed or filing for titles incorrectly.”
Both Donald Adamson and Lannette Adamson made initial appearances on the charges on April 11 after being booked on a $100,000 bond. Their attorney filed a motion to reduce their bond. That bond reduction hearing was held Tuesday morning. It wasn’t immediately clear what the judge in the case ruled.
Seven pages of court documents filed in support of the charges end with the following paragraph.
“DONALD has been listed in 26 Kansas City Missouri Police Reports including Assault, Aggravated Assault, Theft from Auto, Property Damage, and Stolen Auto. In the past four months at Metro Tow, there have been a number of disputes and disturbances between DONALD and victims trying to recover their vehicles. Victims are questioning the legitimacy of their tow and the lengthy and almost impossible tasks of retrieving their vehicles out of the tow lot. The documents obtained show a clear pattern of not following local tow ordinances and state statutes on towing vehicles. These patterns show the vehicles are towed illegally and the state 4669 Form being filled out fraudulently all under DONALD’s business Metro Tow.”
—
If you have any information about a crime, you may contact your local police department directly. But if you want or need to remain anonymous, you should contact the Greater Kansas City Crime Stoppers Tips Hotline by calling 816-474-TIPS (8477), submitting the tip online or through the free mobile app at P3Tips.com. Depending on your tip, Crime Stoppers could offer you a cash reward.
Annual homicide details and data for the Kansas City area are available through the KSHB 41 News Homicide Tracker, which was launched in 2015. Read the KSHB 41 News Mug Shot Policy.
